Drug ban exile for the Earl of Phuket

EXCLUSIVE: SANDOR Earl is the very public face of Australia’s drugs-in-sport scandal, banned by the NRL.

SIX months in Thailand might not sound like a hardline sentence for an exiled NRL footballer.

Sandor Earl is the very public face of Australia’s drugs-in-sport scandal, to date the only player to be issued with an ASADA infraction notice and banned by the NRL.

So how does an ex-rugby league star awaiting the term of his playing ban pass the time before ­attempting to repair the damage of a peptide-­tainted career?

Try travelling 7234km to Thailand’s holiday hideaway of Phuket, where the one-time NRL speedster has opened the aptly-named Muscle Bar in Chalong. Situated underneath a cross fit gymnasium where he also works as a strength and conditioning trainer, the shop front is a health food mecca which sells organic juices, protein shakes and superfood smoothies.

It hardly sounds like the equivalent of death row for an elite athlete, but Earl maintains the uncertainty surrounding his final sentence from ASADA makes every day a challenge. “Literally the day after the announcement I jumped on a plane and decided to get out of Australia, partly for my own sake,” Earl said.

“I’ve been doing 12-hour days and it’s been great to put my time and energy into something.”

“Thailand is somewhere I’ve gone before for training so I just thought it was the perfect place to get away and let everything die down for a bit.

“As it’s turned out I haven’t really had a reason to come back aside from at Christmas, so I’ve basically just set up camp over in Phuket. I had an idea back in Australia about setting up like a health food store and smoothie bar and so we just decided to have a crack at it and get it up and running in Thailand.

“As hard as everything has been I’m pretty grateful for it. I’ve been doing 12-hour days and it’s been great to put my time and energy into something.”

“As hard as everything has been I’m pretty grateful for it. I’ve been doing 12-hour days and it’s been great to put my time and energy into something.”

The ex-NRL winger maintains he wants to return to professional sport once his two-year ASADA ban has been served and has even tossed up having a crack at trying to make it in the NFL in the US.

Earl is still waiting for ASADA to issue the final verdict on his substantial assistance appeal. If successful, Earl’s ban could be reduced to 12 months, and he could return to playing professional sport on ­August 28 of this year. “I’ve thought of a million scenarios but in the end football’s all I’ve known for 24 years so at some point it’s what I want to get back to doing,” he said.